News/Commentary

Ted Cruz blasts ‘frightened’ Republican colleagues for not criticizing Tucker Carlson

November 8, 2025 | | Print Article

Sen. Ted Cruz has accused his fellow Republicans of being too afraid to challenge former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Carlson has been under fire lately for interviewing white nationalist and antisemitic Hitler lover Nick Fuentes and also fiercely attacking Israel.

Speaking this Friday at the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention in D.C., Cruz said Carlson has “spread a poison that is profoundly dangerous,” according to Politico.

“My colleagues, almost to a person, think what is happening is horrible, but a great many of them are frightened because he has one hell of a big megaphone,” the Republican senator continued.

His denunciation of Carlson actually started a week earlier at the Republican Jewish Coalition annual summit, where he complained about having “seen more antisemitsm on the right” within the past six months “than I have in my entire life.”

“If you sit there with someone who says Adolf Hitler was very, very cool, and that their mission is to combat and defeat global Jewry, and you say nothing, then you are [a] coward and you are complicit in that evil,” Cruz continued at last week’s summit.

ADVERTISEMENT

He doubled down this Friday.

“Fuentes and Tucker and the rest of that ilk have a right to say what they are saying,” the senator noted. “Every one of us has an obligation to stand up and say it is wrong. It’s easy right now to denounce Fuentes. Are you willing to say Tucker’s name?”

Cruz stressed that this issue isn’t with Carlson platforming Fuentes but rather with Carlson not fiercely cross-examining him like he’d do to anybody else — like, for instance, Cruz himself.

When Cruz sat with Carlson for an interview/discussion in June, Carlson came at him guns ablazing over the senator’s interest in bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities.

ADVERTISEMENT

“How many people are living in Iran, by the way?” he asked from the get-go.

“I don’t know the population,” Cruz admitted.

“At all?” Carlson pressed.

“No, I don’t know the population,” Cruz replied.

“You don’t know the population of the country you seek to topple?” a stunned Carlson pushed back.

ADVERTISEMENT

This prompted Cruz to ask him, “How many people live in Iran?”

“Ninety-two million,” Carlson promptly replied, shocking Cruz. “How could you not know that?”

“I don’t sit around memorizing population tables,” Cruz insisted.

“Well, it’s kind of relevant because you’re calling for the overthrow of the government,” Carlson noted.

“Why is it relevant, whether it’s 90 million or 80 million or 100 million? Why is that relevant?” Cruz asked.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Well, because if you don’t know anything about the country …,” Carlson began replying before Cruz cut him off.

“I didn’t say I don’t know anything about the country,” Cruz said.

“Ok, what’s the ethnic mix of Iran?” Carlson asked, trying to catch Cruz slipping again.

“They are Persians and predominantly Shia,” the senator replied.

“What percent?” Carlson fired back.

Cruz wasn’t happy about this.

“Ok, this is cute,” he dismissively said.

“You don’t know anything about Iran,” Carlson said, doubling down. “You’re a senator who’s calling for the overthrow of the government, and you don’t know anything about the country!”

While interviewing Fuentes, on the other hand, Carlson didn’t challenge a single thing, including the white nationalist’s fondness for Stalin.

Watch:

“The last I checked, Tucker actually knows how to cross-examine,” Cruz said Friday, likely referencing his own encounter with him in June.

Vivek Saxena
Latest posts by Vivek Saxena (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles